HC says preserve all adoption orders as it can’t find '97 do ..

HC says preserve all adoption orders as it can’t find '97 document

TNN | Jun 17, 2018, 05.14 AM IST

HC says preserve all adoption orders as it can’t find '97 document

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has directed its registry to maintain, in perpetuity, all court orders and records related to Indian or international adoptions. These are vital documents affecting the rights of adoptees, said Justice Gautam Patel.

Family portrait

Purnank has close to 300 members from Pune, Mumbai and across the globe, who stay connected on WhatsApp. The Pune members meet almost every month

A city-based support group for adoptive parents and their children is shaping a new narrative for Indian families

Prospective adoptive parents have all of 48 hours to make the decision to adopt a child who has been referred to them. Often, the medical reports of a referral, as a child who is up for adoption is addressed in legal terms, are not up to date. Taking the all-important decision of bringing a new member into a family without complete clarity on a fundamental issue such as physical or mental health then becomes a challenge. In 2015, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development decided to change the adoption procedure by authorising the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to monitor the system instead of letting local adoption agencies to continue controlling the process. While the move was an attempt to make the system more efficient, it meant that local NGOs and agencies were absolved of any role in supporting parents. “I realised then that support from adoptive parents would be helpful and more authentic for those waiting for their adoption to come through,” says Sangeeta Baginwar, a 46-year-old single adoptive mother, who founded Poornank, a forum of, and for, adoptive parents and children. There are close to 300 members in the group from Pune, Mumbai and across the globe, who stay connected on WhatsApp. There are six different groups on WhatsApp, tells us Baginwar, each dedicated to parents at various stages of adoption — from the pre-adoption stage, to a group focused on parents of young children between the ages of 1 and 6, 6–12, 12–18 and 18 onwards, to single parents, and one group of adopted children.

Earlier this month, some members of Poornank and their children met over lunch. “Members from Pune have been meeting almost every month,” says Baginwar, “At the last meeting, one of the concerns that came up was single mothers discussing how to tackle the question, ‘Where’s our father?, from their children.” Baginwar, an education expert, who organises science exhibitions that include robotics and experiential mathematics, says that children are more accepting of other adopted children. “If you tell them that another child doesn’t have a father just as some children don’t have a brother or a sister, they just accept the idea and move on,” says Amita Marathe, another single mother, who adopted a girl with a congenital heart defect who is now completely cured. Baginwar, who is homeschooling her seven-year-old daughter, Nimisha, speaks from experience. “There are some schools that discriminate against adopted children. I used to know a girl who excelled at Bharatanatyam but was not allowed to perform because she was adopted and not doing well academically,” she says. Nimisha was once told at school that she had two mothers. “I believe that nobody except the parents have a right to discuss this aspect of their life with their adopted children, but having said that, if the school wants to raise the subject, then they should be ready to deal with answering any question that the parent or child has for them,” she says, her eyes flashing with anger at the memory.

Family portrait

Purnank has close to 300 members from Pune, Mumbai and across the globe, who stay connected on WhatsApp. The Pune members meet almost every month

A city-based support group for adoptive parents and their children is shaping a new narrative for Indian families

Prospective adoptive parents have all of 48 hours to make the decision to adopt a child who has been referred to them. Often, the medical reports of a referral, as a child who is up for adoption is addressed in legal terms, are not up to date. Taking the all-important decision of bringing a new member into a family without complete clarity on a fundamental issue such as physical or mental health then becomes a challenge. In 2015, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development decided to change the adoption procedure by authorising the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) to monitor the system instead of letting local adoption agencies to continue controlling the process. While the move was an attempt to make the system more efficient, it meant that local NGOs and agencies were absolved of any role in supporting parents. “I realised then that support from adoptive parents would be helpful and more authentic for those waiting for their adoption to come through,” says Sangeeta Baginwar, a 46-year-old single adoptive mother, who founded Poornank, a forum of, and for, adoptive parents and children. There are close to 300 members in the group from Pune, Mumbai and across the globe, who stay connected on WhatsApp. There are six different groups on WhatsApp, tells us Baginwar, each dedicated to parents at various stages of adoption — from the pre-adoption stage, to a group focused on parents of young children between the ages of 1 and 6, 6–12, 12–18 and 18 onwards, to single parents, and one group of adopted children.

Earlier this month, some members of Poornank and their children met over lunch. “Members from Pune have been meeting almost every month,” says Baginwar, “At the last meeting, one of the concerns that came up was single mothers discussing how to tackle the question, ‘Where’s our father?, from their children.” Baginwar, an education expert, who organises science exhibitions that include robotics and experiential mathematics, says that children are more accepting of other adopted children. “If you tell them that another child doesn’t have a father just as some children don’t have a brother or a sister, they just accept the idea and move on,” says Amita Marathe, another single mother, who adopted a girl with a congenital heart defect who is now completely cured. Baginwar, who is homeschooling her seven-year-old daughter, Nimisha, speaks from experience. “There are some schools that discriminate against adopted children. I used to know a girl who excelled at Bharatanatyam but was not allowed to perform because she was adopted and not doing well academically,” she says. Nimisha was once told at school that she had two mothers. “I believe that nobody except the parents have a right to discuss this aspect of their life with their adopted children, but having said that, if the school wants to raise the subject, then they should be ready to deal with answering any question that the parent or child has for them,” she says, her eyes flashing with anger at the memory.

Report lays bare how child theft syndicates thrive

Saturday Standard Reporter |

Published Sat, June 16th 2018

A four-year-old girl from Liberia, West Africa, holding a sign that reads "not for sale".

A government team has exposed new chilling details of a thriving child theft racket involving adoption societies, charities, state officers, police officers, lawyers and social workers, all eyeing vulnerable children. In a report handed to President Uhuru Kenyatta in December last year and accessed by the Saturday Standard Friday, child experts vouch for definite ban on inter-country adoption, citing numerous cases of abuse and theft of children.

Indian family at outdoor. Rear view of parents and children walking on garden path. Exploring nature, leisure lifestyle.

Indian family at outdoor. Rear view of parents and children walking on garden path. Exploring nature, leisure lifestyle.

‘Cohabitation not considered a stable family in India’

The nodal body for adoption in the country has barred partners in live-in relationships from adopting a child on the ground that cohabitation without marriage is not considered a stable family in India.

The Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) permits a single woman to adopt a child of any gender, while single men can adopt only boys.

Most Indian couples prefer child below age of 2 for adoption: Data

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In 2012, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation entered into a partnership with the non-profit association Tumaini to organize the adoption of Congolese children. The outlook was promising. The fiasco is complete. Excessive fees, false documents, abuse, theft of children: this is the worst part of adoption.

" I am called Anna. It was written that I am 5 years old but it is not true. I am 4 years old and I was woken up. We got off the plane. A long clean hallway. This metallic gray airport with lots of white people. I have never seen so many. We are eleven children to have boarded the plane, to have left the Tumaini house, in Kinshasa. Without even saying goodbye to Uncle Kitambo.

We are then all gathered in a room, black children and white parents. There are games, presentations. A lady wears, like me, a flower on a sign attached around her neck. She talks to me. I do not understand. I'm playing. Then everyone leaves. Big whites with little blacks. The lady with the sign wants to go with me. I am the only one crying. So the big brother who had accompanied us so that we wouldn't be afraid of the plane said not to cry, he said that they would come and get me.

I believed him. For a week, every morning, I hit the lady. I got dressed, I put on my panties, my socks, my shoes, my pants, my T-shirt, my jacket. I tied my hair in a rubber band and put on my backpack. I positioned myself in front of the window. From the second floor of this lady's house, we could clearly see the crossroads. I waited. No one came to pick me up. It wasn't true.

When I could speak French. I told the lady. "You're not my mom. I have one in the village.” While painting my dolls, I told her about Gemena, my sisters, my parents. She said to me: “I think you are confusing my darling. She is a lady who behaved like a mother.” But it's not true. My parents live in Congo. My anger was to survive. She left. A little. With time. The lady became my adoptive mother.

In 2012, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation entered into a partnership with the non-profit organization Tumaini to organize the adoption of Congolese children. The outlook was promising. The fiasco is complete. Excessive fees, false documents, abuse, theft of children: this is the worst part of adoption.

" I am called Anna. It was written that I am 5 years old but it is not true. I am 4 years old and I was woken up. We got off the plane. A long clean hallway. This metallic gray airport with lots of white people. I have never seen so many. We are eleven children to have boarded the plane, to have left the Tumaini house, in Kinshasa. Without even saying goodbye to Uncle Kitambo.

We are then all gathered in a room, black children and white parents. There are games, presentations. A lady wears, like me, a flower on a sign attached around her neck. She talks to me. I do not understand. I'm playing. Then everyone leaves. Big whites with little blacks. The lady with the sign wants to go with me. I am the only one crying. So the big brother who had accompanied us so that we wouldn't be afraid of the plane said not to cry, he said that they would come and get me.

I believed him. For a week, every morning, I hit the lady. I got dressed, I put on my panties, my socks, my shoes, my pants, my T-shirt, my jacket. I tied my hair in a rubber band and put on my backpack. I positioned myself in front of the window. From the second floor of this lady's house, we could clearly see the crossroads. I waited. No one came to pick me up. It wasn't true.

When I could speak French. I told the lady. "You're not my mom. I have one in the village.” While painting my dolls, I told her about Gemena, my sisters, my parents. She said to me: “I think you are confusing my darling. She is a lady who behaved like a mother.” But it's not true. My parents live in Congo. My anger was to survive. She left. A little. With time. The lady became my adoptive mother.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/jeeja-countrys-1st-adoptive-mom-with-cerebral-palsy/articleshow/64564628.cms

Caroline was born in Bangladesh: Maybe my parents didn't want to adopt me at all

Caroline Amena Lauritsen

· Trained lawyer, lives in Odense and is 45 years old. Born in Bangladesh in 1973, but came to Denmark in 1975 through the adoptive agency Terre Des Hommes, who in 1999 stopped communicating adoptions. In her adoption papers, she says she is a founding child, but in the autumn of last year she was presented with new information that may indicate that her biological parents may have been deprived of her.

Caroline Amena Lauritsen, according to her adoption paper, is a founding child, but has recently found signs that she may have been adopted to the will of her parents. The case is the latest in a number of adoptions that have proved not to be after the book. The issues raise major existential issues among the adult adoptive children

A state of shock, but also curiosity. This is how Caroline Amena Lauritsen describes the feeling she got in the body when she found out in the autumn of 2017 that she might not, as hitherto, be a so-called heat child - a child whose biological parents are unknown - but can instead be included in an illegal adoption.